Articles, as the term is used herein, are intended to be inclusive of generally cylindrical members such as electrical cables, wires, pipes, tubes, conduits, etc., and which are often mechanically attached to supporting structures with clamping devices. There are typically two types of channels most used for mounting such articles and each includes a channel having a generally U-shaped cross-section with inwardly turned edges or flanges on the legs of the channel. Both such channel constructions are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,726, issued to Kindorf et al on Dec. 30, 1969.
In attempting to address the problems of interchangeability between support channels and accommodation of articles of different dimensions, the art has seen a variety of clamping devices. Although there are certain known clamps that utilize self-interlock techniques, such as spring-clips and the like, by far the most widely used clamps which, today, are accepted as a standard in the construction industry are those which are secured by bolt or screw. Such conventional clamps comprise a pair of clamping straps of solid sheet metal, one for each side of the article. Each of these straps is inserted into the support channel for engagement with the inturned channel flanges. These straps are generally preformed to accurately match the curvature of a particular size article, the other ends of such straps being bolted together so as to hold the article on the support channel. As such, these conventional straps are not suited for clamping articles of different sizes, thereby necessitating stocking a number of such clamps. Also, handling of such clamps is difficult and time-consuming as the straps are often not self-supporting in the channel absent an article and thus usually require holding until the article is secured by bolting.